Remains of Korean Student Who Died in Cambodia Repatriated After 74 Days

The remains of Park, a Korean university student in his 20s who died after being tortured in a Cambodian crime compound, were repatriated to Korea on October 21.

Yonhap News Agency

According to the police, Korean Air flight KE690, carrying Park's cremated remains, landed at Incheon International Airport at approximately 8:04 a.m. on the same day. This comes 74 days after Park was found dead on August 8.

The head of the Scientific Investigation Operations Division at the National Police Agency, who participated in the joint autopsy in Cambodia the previous day, is scheduled to hand over the remains to the head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the North Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency. The remains will then be delivered to Park's family. The family did not come to Incheon International Airport on this day.

Park had left for Cambodia in July, stating that he was attending a job fair. He died after being tortured by a criminal organization and was found dead three weeks later, in August. Park's body had been kept for over two months at Teuk Thla Pagoda in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

On the previous day, Korean police and Cambodian investigative authorities conducted a joint autopsy on Park's body inside Teuk Thla Pagoda for about three hours. The Korean team included the head of the Scientific Investigation Operations Division at the National Police Agency, an investigator from the North Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency, three forensic pathologists from the National Forensic Service, and a prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice's International Criminal Affairs Division, totaling six members. The Cambodian side also had six participants, including local police officials and doctors.

When local police discovered Park's body, they found signs of torture, such as bruises. However, the National Police Agency stated that there was no damage to internal organs or other body parts.

The exact cause of death will be announced after a comprehensive review of scheduled histological and toxicological examinations in Korea, as well as the ongoing investigations in both countries.